Alvamar Inc. no longer has a contract to sell its two Lawrence golf courses and other recreational assets and operations to out-of-state investors for management by a national operator.

But that doesn’t mean Alvamar leaders are giving up on the deal just yet.

“We are optimistic,” said Bob Johnson, chairman of Alvamar’s board of directors. “We are hopeful, but we don’t know whether it is actually going to happen or not. The interested buyer continues to express the belief that the sale will happen … but as I like to tell everybody: When you have a real estate contract, that doesn’t mean you have a sale. Until the money changes hands, you don’t have a deal.”

Such an exchange — Alvamar owners had listed the assets in October for $6.5 million — was to have occurred by Saturday, according to a contract signed in December. Despite having signed all paperwork necessary since then to make the deal go, Johnson said, the money has not yet been transferred.

That’s why Alvamar’s board reopened discussions Tuesday with two other potential buyers, ones who had expressed interest before Alvamar signed the contract that expired last weekend, Johnson said.

“They’d said, ‘OK, fine. If that deal doesn’t work out, let us know,’ ” Johnson said. “We’ve let them know where this is.”

While Johnson and other Alvamar leaders have declined to disclose the identity of the pending purchasers, Johnson disclosed some additional information Tuesday: The group is pursuing the acquisition of five course operations in all, of which Alvamar would be one; and Billy Casper Golf Group would be the investors’ designated manager for Alvamar, should the sale go through.

“If it’s going to happen, it will happen pretty soon or we’ll be moving on — getting on with our lives, so to speak,” Johnson said. “It’ll be days, not weeks.”